Naperville, IL…After being sworn
into the 99th General Assembly, Rep. Grant Wehrli (R-Naperville) kept
his promise to residents of the 41st House District by refusing to
accept his legislative pension and healthcare benefits.

After refusing the pension and
benefits, Wehrli took an additional step in providing solutions to the state’s
broken pension systems by signing on as a Chief Co-Sponsor of HB 138, a bill prohibiting
any new members of the General Assembly from collecting a taxpayer-funded pension.

“We have a real serious problem
with the state’s pension systems and I intend to bring solutions to the table,
not add to Illinois’ financial shortcomings,” said Wehrli. “I made a promise to
my district’s residents that I would refuse a legislative pension, and that’s
what I did.”

When a new member of the General
Assembly is inaugurated they can choose to either accept or refuse the pension
and healthcare benefits. Once a decision is made to refuse a benefit; the
legislator is no longer eligible to enter the General Assembly Retirement
System (GARS).

HB 138, as proposed, would
eliminate the GARS opportunity to any new member of the General Assembly after
the 2016 elections. “Illinois is on a path to destruction and it will only
worsen if something is not done,” said Wehrli. “Our pension systems are failing
and in order to protect the pensioners and taxpayers responsibly we will have
to make tough decisions.”

As a former Councilman in the City
of Naperville, Wehrli championed this same concept and was able to eliminate
elected official pensions in one of the largest cities in Illinois. “If we are
applying these concepts at the local levels to attain financial stability, we
should certainly take a lesson and apply them to the state level,” said Wehrli.
“I was sent to Springfield to be a public servant. Somewhere along the way we
lost our path. We are here to serve the people, not ourselves.”